Strategic Defense of Earth: Hypervelocity Asteroid Deflection

Asteroids and comets will strike the Earth in the future, so what can mankind do to defend itself? Benjamin Deniston interviews professor Bong Wie (Iowa St. U.) and Brent Barbee (NASA Goddard) about their "Hypervelocity Asteroid Intercept Vehicle" concept, designed to utilize a thermonuclear explosive device at very high speeds for scenarios with little warning time before an asteroid impact. The interview was conducted at the Fall 2012 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) symposium, held Nov. 14-15, 2012 in Virginia. NIAC examines early stage concepts that may lead to advanced and innovative space technologies critical for NASA missions in the next 10 to 100 years.